December 25, 1977
The Participants in Celebrating Christmas

…Once Jesus was born, God must have been happier with him than He was with His original creation. At the same time, however, Jesus’ birth could not wipe away the painful reality of all the fallen people. God could not ignore or forget the fallen world. Before the fall only God exercised dominion over Adam and Eve and there was no such thing as Satan; however, nowadays even many devout people wrongly believe that Satan existed before man was created. This was certainly not so.

What was the mission of Mary and Joseph?

God was not the only one in a position to try to exercise dominion over Jesus. …Satan continued to pursue man, especially a man like Jesus who could fulfill God’s purpose of creation. Satan was very active and persistently tried to take Mary to his side. Mary knew that she was in the middle of an important situation, but she did not understand it fully. Perhaps she had a hint of her responsibility but Mary did not completely know her situation at that time.

What about Joseph, Mary’s husband? He did not fully know the situation either, nor any other close relatives, even Jesus’ brothers and sisters.…

It was God’s intention that everyone around Jesus, including Mary and Joseph and all the relatives, nurture Jesus and protect him from Satan so that he could fully develop himself and his ideals before finally undertaking his mission. …The sole purpose of their lives should have been to protect Jesus while he was preparing for his mission.

…The Jews were prepared by God to receive and assist Jesus, but did even those people really have the slightest idea of who Jesus was and what they were supposed to do in order to help him fulfill the will of God? They did not know a thing. Was there anyone who understood Jesus’ mission as an individual, his mission to restore his family and the nation around his family and finally the whole world? It is very clear that there was no one, either secular or religious, who helped Jesus accomplish his mission.

If there was anyone at all who understood Jesus and helped him it was God Himself. God knew, but no one else except Jesus understood his responsibility. Was God contented and happy while looking down on His son born in a stable, crying in the cold, with no one around him knowing what they were supposed to do and with Satan searching intently to find some way to stop him? Could God feel easy in that situation?

…Let us go back and think in a little more detail about what the immediate environment was. Mary was Jesus’ mother but Joseph was not his father. When Joseph married her, Mary was pregnant and Joseph knew that it was not his child she carried.…

Joseph did not know anything except what he was told in one short dream. Joseph was a righteous man so he married Mary as he was instructed to do by an angel, but how long do you think Joseph could feel righteous and happy about it?… Suppose everyone respects you as a very generous man, but you have to marry some woman who is pregnant with someone else’s child. If she told you that it was conceived by the Holy Spirit then perhaps one day you would not have resentment, but could you still feel generous for all the years to come?…

It is likely that Joseph asked Mary many times whose baby she carried… At first Joseph probably thought he would understand, but in the long run he could not accept the situation. Do you think that their relationship was happy for very long? It is probable that they quarreled and distrusted each other rather than fully understanding and cooperating in love in the sight of God.

Once Jesus was born the rift became even greater and Joseph looked upon Jesus as something which was not wanted and which had ruined his relationship with Mary. This was the realistic situation that existed all through Jesus’ life. Because of their parents’ attitude towards Jesus, even his own brothers and sisters did not respect him… Whenever parents respect a child then his brothers and sisters will also, but when the father and mother are indifferent or hostile then the chances are that the other children will treat him the same way. The Bible records that Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem for Passover, and when they couldn’t find him after the celebrations they left for home without him, only coming back to look for him after three days. Jesus was very indignant and condemned them. Even in an average family can you imagine parents leaving a child of Jesus’ age all alone in a crowded city? …Joseph probably said, “Forget about it. Let’s leave,” and Mary had to go along. Because Mary was very insistent, however, and Joseph knew that Mary would not yield, they turned back again to find Jesus and bring him home with them.…

As a child, Jesus was caught in an unbearable situation

…Joseph’s family knew that Jesus was not really one of them and even though they might not have discussed it in front of him, Jesus was not respected. Even now in a society as permissive as America’s, if a girl has a baby whose father is not known then there is some talk about it. An even harsher situation prevailed in Jesus’ time, when an unwed mother was punishable by death. Certainly there would be cruel gossip. Could Jesus grow up happy and contented like an average child under these circumstances, or can you imagine that Jesus was caught in an unbearable situation? Every child that Jesus played with certainly must have made comments about things heard from his parents. Jesus just could not have had normal relationships with other children.…

Did anyone around Jesus try to defend him? There is not one account which records such dedication. Jesus was mistreated and persecuted by his own family because they completely lacked any understanding of who he was. Even without his being king of kings and the son of God, was he even treated as well as the son of a common family?

…Common sense would say that even on holidays or special occasions no one made special clothing or gifts and presented them to Jesus. The brothers and sisters who were more favored by Joseph might have gotten something, but even Mary was reluctant to anger Joseph by giving anything to Jesus. Of course Jesus must have wanted to wear the special clothes and eat the special food of that time, like we all do, but it was not possible to acquire it. Was Jesus free to do whatever he pleased? Circumstances always blocked him from pursuing whatever he wanted or needed to do.

How can we soothe the turmoil in God’s heart and Jesus’ heart?

…Our purpose is not to become happy and comfortable together but rather to persevere in hardship… We have to straighten out the regrets and the incredibly oppressed feeling, the furious sense of frustration that God has and Christ has.…

…Even though you live 2,000 years after Jesus did, you can be friends with him because love is not bound by time and space. When you are persecuted in the street and spit at, are you persevering for yourself or because of mankind and God? Because we can go beyond time and even space to become completely one in love and heart, even before the time of history, we can persevere that way.

…My topic is “The Participants in Celebrating Christmas.” The world is celebrating Christmas in its best way and we are celebrating Christmas in our way. Let us celebrate this Christmas in the truest sense, understanding the true situation of Jesus and the meaning of his second coming, devoting all our heart and love to becoming one in love with God. Then we are the participants in all that belongs to God.

No matter how shabby the clothing we wear and no matter how unworthy we may be, even if we don’t have any presents to bring, if we devote our heart for that cause, we can be the true participants in this Christmas. The world is celebrating Christmas but not in the true way and God does not find any meaning at all in that celebration. Our numbers are small but our hearts are intense in the desire to be one with Christ.

We must remind ourselves that this is the saddest day of all for God and Jesus. Jesus never had one real birthday celebration when he was on earth, and it will be immensely meaningful to him to see the many people who are gathered here to celebrate in the true sense. Wouldn’t you be grateful to participate in the true Christmas celebration? Do you think Jesus would be happy to see that the people gathered here have had tears and sweat staining their faces, and have gone without beautiful clothes to do God’s work? …Jesus would be deeply moved to see you gathered here to sing Christmas songs and wish him happy birthday…

…you are on the road to becoming sons and daughters of God, to whom even God and Jesus can be thankful for what you have done. …God bless you. Let us pray.

Divine Principle: Mission of the Messiah
§4 Rebirth & Trinity

Jesus came as the Messiah for nothing less than the complete salvation of humanity; he was to fulfill the goal of the providence of restoration. Jesus was supposed to establish the Kingdom of Heaven, first on the earth. … • Exposition of the Divine Principle, p. 112

When we believe in Jesus as the Savior through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we receive the love of the spiritual True Parents, which is generated through the give and take between Jesus, the spiritual True Father, and the Holy Spirit, the spiritual True Mother. Through this love, new life is infused into us, and our spirits are reborn as new selves. This is spiritual rebirth. • Exposition of the Divine Principle, p. 171

Ever since the descent of the Holy Spirit at the Pentecost, the resurrected Jesus as the spiritual True Father and the Holy Spirit as the spiritual True Mother have worked in oneness to grant spiritual rebirth by spiritually engrafting believers with themselves. This is the work of spiritual salvation. • Exposition of the Divine Principle, p. 280